Notes by Nectar

I had a pretty good week, after feeling really awful the week before.

On Sunday morning I decided to go back to Week 4 Day 1 of the 10k Runner app (after a long break):

• Warmup x 5 min
• Run x 3 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Run x 4 min
• Walk x 3 min
• Run x 4 min
• Walk x 3 min
• Run x 3 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Cool down x 5 min

I needed to start with something manageable, to ease myself in!

I had a session with Pete on Monday morning. I did a 1 km warmup on the treadmill (8.26) and some stretches. I then did the following superset:

• Chest fly x 14 (10-lb weights)
• Front fly x 14 (10-lb weights)
• Abdominal scissors x 20
• Rest and repeat two more times

I had some water and moved on to the next group of exercises:

• Pushups x 10
• Bentover row x 14 (10-lb weights)
• Russian twists x 20
• Rest and repeat two more times

I had some more water and did the final group of exercises:

• Romanian deadlifts x 14 (10-lb weights)
• Goblet squats x 14 (15-lb weight)
• Reach-through crunch x 20
• Rest and repeat two more times

I did a few stretches afterwards and was done for the day.

My hamstrings and upper body were quite sore on Tuesday! I went back to the gym for Week 4 Day 2 of the 10k Runner app:

• Warmup x 5 min
• Run x 3 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Run x 5 min
• Walk x 3 min
• Run x 5 min
• Walk x 3 min
• Run x 3 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Cool down x 5 min

I had another session with Pete on Wednesday. I started with a 10-minute warmup on the cross-trainer and some stretches. I then did the following group of exercises:

• Kettlebell swings x 3 (8-kg kettlebell)
• Combined squat/upright row x 2 (8-kg kettlebell)
• Shoulder press x 1 (8-kg kettlebell)
• Repeat x 6 (no breaks)
• Jumping jacks x 30
• Repeat the whole thing two more times (no breaks)

Oh God, it was awful. I did three circuits of that in 5:21.

Pete usually gets the worst exercises out of the way first, so when he told me I’d be doing burpees in the second group of exercises, I wanted to cry. The second group went like this:

• Deadlifts x 10 (20-lb weights)
• Burpees x 8
• Combined bicep curl/shoulder press x 6 (10-lb weights)
• As many sets as possible in 6 minutes

It was worse than the first set of exercises! I had some water while Pete told me I’d be doing a 4-minute Tabata set next. Then he pulled the dreaded ladder out of his bag. I wanted to lie on the floor and have a tantrum. It was almost as if he’d chosen all my least favourite things and put them all together. The ladder circuit went like this:

• Jumping in and out x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• Stepping side to side x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• Scissors x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• Salsa x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• Repeat one more time

I know I’d been dreading the ladder but it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. The burpees were definitely much worse. I had some more water and did three sets of the following on the lateral pulldown machine:

• Pull down and hold x 20 s
• Lateral pulldown x 10
• Rest and repeat two more times

After some more water, I did an abs set:

• Hip rolls x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• Scissors x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• Mountain climbers x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• T-raise x 30 s
• Rest

I did some stretches after that and was done for the day. Yippee!

My hamstrings were still sore on Thursday, but I went to the gym for Week 4 Day 3 of the 10k Runner app:

• Warmup x 5 min
• Run x 3 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Run x 5 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Run x 5 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Run x 3 min
• Walk x 2 min
• Cool down

I managed to do that – and that was my week. I didn’t work out over the weekend.

Total distance covered this week?

Low point of the week? I can’t think of anything.

High point of the week? Working out five times 🙂

Weight loss? It started to go in the right direction but I’m not sure what happened towards the end of the week. According to my Libra weight tracker app, I’ll reach my goal weight by February 2017.

Read more updates here.